Ex LTTE negotiator rejects assurances given by Sri Lanka

A former LTTE peace negotiator, Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, has rejected the assurances given by the Government to address the accountability issue related to the war.

Rudrakumaran says based on the statements made by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera in Geneva recently, Sri Lanka’s rationale for transitional justice is preposterous and the international community should insist that the Government changes it.

“The High Commissioner in his oral report has, of course, noted some incremental progress in Sri Lanka’s measures for implementing the resolution. But he has also pointed out the danger of the commitment for justice getting stalled and dissipated. He has expressed concern that the PTA continues to be used mostly against Tamils; those accused to have committed systemic crimes of kidnap and murder had been allowed to continue to hold public office and enjoy impunity. Samaraweera has failed to respond to these serious averments,” Rudrakumaran said.

He also said that Samaraweera has failed to acknowledge the conclusions reached by the High Commissioner in his September 2015 report and has failed to acknowledge the charges of forced disappearances, kidnap and murder, sexual violence and the detention of former LTTE cadres without charges.

Rudrakumaran also said that in spite of the High Commissioner or human rights repeatedly urging the Government that international judges be included in any domestic mechanism as promised by Sri Lanka, the President is consistently ruling out such a possibility at all. (Colombo Gazette)